Nature Energy, Published online: 20 October 2026; doi:10.1038/s41560-026-02148-w

Cathode interlayers play a pivotal role in improving the performance of organic solar cells. Yao, Zhang, Zhang, Wang et al. show a stepwise solvent treatment to achieve a vertically aligned cathode interlayer, enabling a certified efficiency of 20.65% in binary organic solar cells.

Nature Energy, Published online: 07 October 2026; doi:10.1038/s41560-026-02149-9

Carbon capture with conventional mixed-matrix membranes is limited by the inability to achieve high packing densities of porous fillers while preserving their intrinsic transport properties. Here the authors develop high-performance membranes based on single-crystal covalent organic framework fillers using a weak-interaction inlaying strategy that enables high filler loadings.

Nature Energy, Published online: 05 October 2026; doi:10.1038/s41560-026-02147-x

Clean energy systems rely on large amounts of minerals. Here the researchers show that meeting EU solar and wind targets will create high demand for copper, zinc, silicon and rare earth elements, especially when offshore wind remains central.

Nature Energy, Published online: 22 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41560-026-02129-z

Electrochemical carbon capture promises low-energy direct air capture (DAC), but demonstrations are often confined to small devices and short lifetimes. Here the authors report a 25-cm2 symmetric nickel hydroxide DAC cell operated for 5,000 h at a low energy cost and demonstrate scale-up to a 9 × 300 cm2 stack.

Nature Energy, Published online: 21 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41560-026-02146-y

The rapid expansion of data centres is challenging power systems and planning processes to keep pace.

Nature Energy, Published online: 17 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41560-026-02139-x

Realized green hydrogen demand lags behind policy targets but could be accelerated by accounting for spatial spillovers, which refer to demand-side interdependencies where adoption by one user encourages further adoption by nearby users. Revising EU green hydrogen policies, including Hydrogen Valleys and European Hydrogen Bank auctions, to better account for these location-specific demand-side patterns could improve their effectiveness.

Nature Energy, Published online: 17 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41560-026-02126-2

EU green hydrogen policies could be more effective if they accounted for spatial spillovers. These spillovers are a primary driver of diffusion, and spatially informed demand-side policies could improve cost-effectiveness by up to 41%.